My B-702 is up and running

Share and discuss your windmill related projects.
hwy8
Posts: 217
Joined: Sun Feb 10, 2019 7:49 am
Location: Stillwater, MN

Re: My B-702 is up and running

Post by hwy8 »

I forgot to show the "Before" pictures as found on Craigslist. I went to bed thinking I didn't need an Aermotor 8' and I woke up wide-eyed in the middle of the night when I remembered a "B" model is a 10' . It was in such great shape when I saw it that I didn't even look under the hood before I bought it. I was driving home in the dark with my new treasure and realized that I didn't even know if there were gears in it! I pulled off of the road, grabbed my flashlight, took off the hood, and found the tightest packed mouse-house I've ever seen! I stopped at the do-it-yourself carwash and did a major cleaning. For the first time in a long life of hauling heavy iron home, I found something that was in great condition! I almost didn't know how to act!
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hedgerow
Posts: 231
Joined: Wed Jun 12, 2019 6:26 pm

Re: My B-702 is up and running

Post by hedgerow »

Its strange to see that someone had taken it down and apart and stored it in a shed for years.It sure was in nice shape. I bought a old homemade buzz saw on a trailer a while back with a Wisconsin two cylinder engine on it and the air passages on the engine were so full of mouse nest you couldn't even turn the motor over. Guy I bought it from said his uncle had parked it in the lean to 15 years ago. Cleaned the nest out, filed the points put gas in it and started it up.
Ron Stauffer
Posts: 431
Joined: Fri Dec 14, 2018 10:25 am
Location: Uncompahgre Plateau Montrose CO
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Re: My B-702 is up and running

Post by Ron Stauffer »

So I need to ask, how you installed it? We recently did one for Chatauqua Park in Boulder. It needed to placed next to the original farmhouse close to the hand dug well. In addition, there was an overhead electric line, heirloom apple trees and horticulturist landscaping in the mix. Too similar looking to your site. Anchor holes were hand dug, Aermotor "easy to build up" tower and by hand installation. Installed cost was 50% higher than one I could have gotten in to with the hoist truck and I dont think that was enough.

Ron Stauffer
Montrose CO
hwy8
Posts: 217
Joined: Sun Feb 10, 2019 7:49 am
Location: Stillwater, MN

Re: My B-702 is up and running

Post by hwy8 »

(TOWER #1)A friend with a flatbed hauled the tower to my front yard and I used a wheelbarrow and coaster wagon to bring it down the sidewalk. I used a portable electric winch with 1,000 pound capacity to tip it upright. I carefully "walked" and suspended the top up an industrial step ladder one step at a time. I already had the holes dug and laid 4x4's with slippery poly-something beneath the bottom horizontals. I then was able to push the tower down the "track" into position over the holes. I attached the anchors, leveled and plumbed, mixed and poured concrete and when it dried, removed all of the "stuff". Of course everything had to be aligned during the raising part to miss trees, etc. I was careful and thoughtful and lucky because the only help I had was 20 minutes when a friend helped me push it over center.
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hwy8
Posts: 217
Joined: Sun Feb 10, 2019 7:49 am
Location: Stillwater, MN

Re: My B-702 is up and running

Post by hwy8 »

(TOWER #2) I hired it done! My wife said that now I'm 70, I should stop acting like a 60 year old! I had the tower delivered to the back yard where I fitted the stub tower and replaced the diagonal braces. I hired three young concrete workers that put up Aermotors in their spare time and they temporarily removed the stub tower, picked the tower up and carried/danced it through the garden on winding paths back to the foundation they had poured the previous week. They stood it up by sheer muscle, bolted it to the anchors, whipped up scaffolding, and carried the stub tower up and bolted it on. They hoisted all of the windmill parts up and assembled it all in place. It was up and running and they were gone in about four hours! I've never hired my work done but this was luxurious! They did such good work that I could lie to everyone and say that "I did it!"
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Ron Stauffer
Posts: 431
Joined: Fri Dec 14, 2018 10:25 am
Location: Uncompahgre Plateau Montrose CO
Contact:

Re: My B-702 is up and running

Post by Ron Stauffer »

So tower ! is about a 20' total Baker Monitor counting the stub. You left the Monitor stub on to make it more stable for standing? And that got the B702.

Tower 2 has a monkey ladder, about 25' tall total and is also destined for a 10' Aermotor? Guessing from the size of the stub angles.

Please remind people to landscape after the windmill so someone else has to deal with it in the event of future repairs.

Ron
hwy8
Posts: 217
Joined: Sun Feb 10, 2019 7:49 am
Location: Stillwater, MN

Re: My B-702 is up and running

Post by hwy8 »

I know the least about towers and who made them. It has always been what's available? What started the trouble was meeting someone at a garage sale and he had a crashed Baker L. Before the storm hit his place, it looked like his photo and after the storm, it was a broken up mess. So, I bought it all and brought it home and erected the tower first (#1). I am finished with the iron and now am finishing the "woodwork". Then, I was offered a really nice Aermotor X-702 and now I have that rebuilt. And then, I spotted the B-702 and bought that. A local enthusiast had an extra tower (#2) which I quickly installed and got the machine up and running. All of this, and the original Baker isn't on the tower yet. And then came the 2500w Jacobs, two Challenge basket cases, and finally, the Duplex which is almost finished and I want that up next.

Just today my wife suggested that instead of getting rid of the extras, "putting them ALL up is OK" with her! She's a keeper!

Burt
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Smax
Posts: 458
Joined: Thu Jan 03, 2019 12:06 pm
Location: Ardmore,oklahoma
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Re: My B-702 is up and running

Post by Smax »

Thanks Burt for the photos and post looking forward to seeing the others up
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